On its website, the editors of Esquire Thursday posted a lengthy endorsement of Barack Obama "as the only possible choice to lead this country."

But the endorsement, the magazine's first, is worth reading because it feels half-hearted, even cynical, and filled with condemnation, rage, and regret, not so much for Obama--although he certainly draws some fire for being too cautious--but for John McCain, Sarah Palin and the Bush administration. And it might offer some insight, not necessarily into the minds of Manhattan magazine editors, but why so many voters across the nation right now are so angry.

in truth, though, Senator Obama is the only one of the two candidates who seems to believe in the idea of a political commonwealth, that there are those things -- be they the guarantees in the Bill of Rights or mountains in Alaska -- that we own together. Barack Obama stands, however inchoately and however diffidently, for the notion that a common purpose is necessary for common problems, that "government," as it is designed in our founding documents, is our collective responsibility. It is this collective responsibility that built America into a great power without peer in the history of the world. And it is this collective responsibility that has succumbed to nearly thirty years of phony rightist populism, corporate brigandage, and the wildly cheered abandonment of a common American civic purpose. It is shocking that in America an argument for salvaging the common good is regarded as a radical notion by anyone, but that is where we are. And that is what Barack Obama seems to stand for. After all, as a young man with his potential, he could have headed straight to midtown Manhattan and made a fortune. Instead, he took a church job working for poor people in Chicago, and for his troubles, he and those poor people have been viciously jeered by the likes of Rudy Giuliani and Sarah Palin. Such is their regard for the common good. And such is Obama's promise. And in that, however inchoately and however diffidently, Obama stands not only against Bushism, but against Reaganism, which gave it birth. And that is more than enough.

The piece blasts McCain for becoming a "parody" of himself and labeling his campaign "cheap and dishonorable."

And suffice it to say, Palin is not one of the "Women We Love."

Then, of course, he picked an agent of intolerance to join him on his ticket. But it is not Governor Palin's religious beliefs that are of concern to us.More to the point, there is no serious debate to be had over Sarah Palin's preparedness to be president of the United States. Because in fact, she is stunningly unqualified, having never taken a position of consequence on an issue of consequence before she was selected in the last days of August. But she has now been put in a serious position to assume the presidency, and her selection is the clearest indication yet of the contempt that Senator McCain -- transformed into nominee McCain -- now feels for the process of governance.

Obama was on the cover of the magazine this year, but McCain is no stranger to its pages. Here is an interview with McCain from the summer of 2000, as a part of the magazine's "What I've Learned" feature:

Politics is an extremely rough game.

In prison, my own vulnerabilities were made clear to me. My strengths as well as my weaknesses were made clear to me.

Seize the moment and be happy.

I have to choose my issues and priorities very carefully. Because even though I now have a dramatically increased influence, that influence is not unlimited and could be squandered.

I'd like to be twenty-five again.

Twenty-nine, maybe.

I learned that John McCain was a good night out, basically. Because there is a lot of spectacle and a lot of entertainment there.

People who hold certain institutional positions should have your respect until they lose it. But the rest of us mortals have to earn it.

I think Elvis is still alive somewhere.

It's very important to lose gracefully. You know, no bitterness, no anger, no remorse -- can't display that.

Loyalty is, with a large number of people in this town, directly driven by what benefit can accrue from it.

The Vietnamese are very gentle. The only people that are more gentle are the ones who've suffered even more, and those are the Khmer.

Everyone I've ever known who served in the Peace Corps or the military or Vista may not have liked it, but they sure felt that it was an enrichment to their lives, and the broadening and maturing they felt were very beneficial.

Whenever somebody wants to make a good movie, they use music from the fifties and sixties rather than from the eighties and nineties.

My life was charted out for me, and I resented that. Not consciously, but clearly subconsciously. You know, ever since I can remember, as a little boy: "He's going to the Naval Academy." It wasn't whether he might. The question was when.

I'm prone to mistakes.

Humor is very important. I learned that in prison. It's a great way of defusing tension. It's also a great way of deflecting anger. But when it's used wrong, as I used it wrong a couple of times, you hurt people. And that's just not acceptable. I've done it a couple of times, and I've always regretted it. And I can't explain to you why I did it.

Americans are waiting to be led.

I regret it when I'm in some small country and see that they've taken the worst of our culture rather than the best.

I think historians will look at Bill Clinton with puzzlement and make the following judgment: that it was a great waste.

Several people who have some fame have come into my office. No one has had the effect Muhammad Ali had. I've never seen anything like it.

I believe that Muhammad Ali did have religious objections.

I still remember Sugar Ray Robinson being, in my view, the greatest fighter that ever lived.

You should allow young people to make their own decisions as to what they want to do with their lives. Hopefully, your beneficial influence over the years will motivate them to do the right thing.

I hope that my son, Jack, whether he becomes a military person or not, will conduct his life according to the traditions of our family.

I'm the guy that stood fifth from the bottom of his class. If my old company officer had contemplated that I would make a serious bid for the presidency of the United States, he would have probably had either me or himself committed.

I can see myself believing that eighteen years in the Senate is enough. If you can't accomplish what you want to accomplish in eighteen years, then you probably are not going to in six more years after that.

Time passes so quickly.

Celebrity is kind of fun, you know?

Comments

Has the media forgotten that Sarah Palin has the title Governer preceding it? That means that she is bright enough and competent enough to have been elected by her peers before ever accepting the VP nomination. The treatment of Gov. Palin by the media is dishonerable.

Obama is all talk and no action, nor does he have record to prove he is anything otherwise

I use to get angry because I could not get any satisfaction from MSM with all there LIBERAL BIAS, and I thought that maybe over time when I've gotten older they will have died off (retired ha) and gone away. Then, IT WOULD BE MY GENERATIONS TURN TO RUN THE COUNTRY and THE NEWS. Well, that was wishful thinking....as they have trotted out all these old liberal 60's people or their old ideas masked by a young face LONG after that generations time has passed.

Then, here comes this YOUTHFUL OBAMA, talking of HOPE AND CHANGE. I actually looked at him for just long enough for his old 60's Rev Wright to come out and preach some of the most vile old BLACK POWER BS I've ever heard...about ha!

Then, I hear about this old 60's Ayers fella with all his OLD DOWN WITH THE MAN BS, and this guy still has not outgrown his OLD IDEAS even late into his years.

Obama has so many connections and they are just the same as his politics>OLD 60's generation DESTROY THE CAPITALIST thinking. He is nothing new, nothing inspiring, nothing to get excited about unless you are wanting some of OTHER PEOPLES MONEY he keeps dangling in peoples faces....sad thing is, he will take the RICH PEOPLES MONEY and do just like his PALS at Acorn did with the HOUSING LOANS to those who had no money>HE WILL TAKE IT AWAY IN AN ATTEMPT TO BANKRUPT THIS EVIL CAPITALIST WORLD.

Well, don't be to hard on me....you can't claim I'm a RACIST ha, at this point I would rather vote for this fella rather than Obama>

Hooray for Esquire! Let this be the first of a tsunami of media endorsements for the only intellent ticket in this election. McCain has indeed parodied himself and he's insulted the American electorate with his thoughtless (and unvetted) choice of a running mate. If the polls are any indication, it's safe to start printing ObamaAgain2012 bumper stickers.

Who is Esquire to take notice of? A sexist magazine with broads and zannies with a little bit of humor and tech /bs common advice. Go away magazine and look for idoltry elsewhere.
You'll still sell your comic book magazine ... END.
Now, for John Sidney McCain. And, it's okay to use one's middle name. No law against this except if you are Obama and tell others they can't. So easy to ridicule others; anyone as a matter of fact.
But the fact is and the facts are that platform and platforms with all of the issues are at stake and this spells out one thing....the fact that John Sidney McCain is the man for the job of being the President of the USA. He's a mover and shaker and not a radical.
It is time for reform and tradition. The libs have gone too far and this financial crisis is but one of them and it is causing Americans much distress. Why would anyone vote for the party (Democrat) that got us into this in the first place. All of their experience is written in history with suffering by the people, of the people, and nothing for the people.
Why not write something that is conducive to helping America make up its mind by just stating facts and leaving out all of the BS. This is not a popularity contest. We Americans believe that America and its best interests are what count and what is at stake should be presented truthfully and not laden with smut and off-handed politics.
Are you all running out of what to say to us as dumbies or what?? Your rating is as good as what?? It's getting closer so put the heat on what is true and what is not and what works with a brain calculated to present something with validities to ponder. Like the real issues we must deal with. As we always have with new and old approaches and stay on course. Thanks for being a good and conscientious American. Can't vote for a Democrat for they are thieves.

This election is our best stand against status quo, egoism, and greed. The degradation of our great nation is a travesty. I spent 20 years as a Republican touting the principles of less government and letting the free market determine success and failure, but as we've seen with every deregulated industry, corporate greed and continuous government bailouts have destroyed the notion that businesses should stand or fail on their own accord. Apparently that only applies to small businesses unable to contribute millions in political donations. I am now an Independent, and I will vote my conscious instead of blindly holding to failed philosophies. Have the courage to try something new, for America's sake. Stop pandering to fear and rumor. If Obama can't get the job done, we'll vote him out in 4.

Posted by: Progress Takes Courage | October 9, 2008 7:54 PM
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Obama is all about "status quo, egoism, and greed". Read a newspaper sometime. Learn something.
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Yet another American presidential contest is the evil of two lessers. YAW-AWN... so what else is new?

It's always amusing how the brainwashed followers of Faux News, Rush Limbaugh, and the rest of the right wing idealogues are quick to find "Liberal Bias" in anything that doesn't adhere to their ideological absolutism. I guess it's true that facts have a liberal bias.

The People Who Struck The Match, Set The Fire, and Fanned the Flames Which Are Burning Our Economy To The Ground Are Conspiring To Shift Blame And Avoid Jail Time. And One Of Them Is Set To Be Our Next Attorney General.

The Major Players Including Jamie Goerlick, Franklin Raines, Daniel Mudd, and Jim Johnson are at the heart of this meltdown.

These people owe the American People an explanation, an apology, and perhaps some jail time. Don't take your eye off of the ball. These are the people who lit the match and fanned the flames. One Of The Players, Jamie Goerlick is set to be our next attorney General. We simply CAN'T let this happen or they will all go free.

I am glad I cancelled my subscription to Esquire years ago. I would think the environmental movemonet would consider it a waste of natural resources.

Its baloney to charge that Republicans or Conservatives do not believe in the common good. Liberals want to work for the common good through government. This of course is completely contrary to what the founders had in mind for this country. Freedom and liberty includes the choice to decide if you care about the common good or not or if you want to do somethig about it. You can't legislate character and to mandate behavior is to remove freedom.

Conservatives, believe the common good comes from morals and character, which of course we know the elitist liberals lack, both in understanding and in values.

Ah, I see that the blogs are now filling up with the "socialist" word. So, we now see that the right-wing Republican Party is trotting out another word to define the non right-wing Republican world. Such foolish games you folks play with the language; you show such intolerance for any space other than your own.

Has the media forgotten that Sarah Palin has the title Governer preceding it? That means that she is bright enough and competent enough to have been elected by her peers before ever accepting the VP nomination. The treatment of Gov. Palin by the media is dishonerable.

Obama is all talk and no action, nor does he have record to prove he is anything otherwise

Posted by: Jason | October 9, 2008 5:15 PM

Hve you forgotten that Obama has "Senator" before his name? That means that he is bright enough and competent enough to have been elected by his peers before ever accepting the Presidential nomination.

Actually, it boils down to TWO different ideas about CHANGE>one that promises a REVOLUTION that was even rejected by the typical radical 60's crowd back then. No pride in doing your best unless it's applied towards benefiting those who wish to do nothing.

Then, one that promises that our values that Main Stream Americans hold dear remain solvent. Pride in ones country without shame. The pleasures and rewards of capitalism that comes about from those who are willing to work.

They sang about the WRONG TYPES OF REVOLUTIONS BACK THEN which tells you that this is even extreme for the 60's Hippies>

Why is it that those who oppose Obama can never show him any respect? Why ALL the ridicule, innuendo, distortions? Why never an analysis of his positions? He's the only person who has been labeled Muslim and Christian, elite and socialist, an inspiring speaker with empty ideas. How can one man embody all of these opposites? Uhhmm . . .

I'm embarrassed and disgusted by the horrible comments coming from the far right. You people are NOT patriots--you are simple-minded, fear mongerers, and some of you are showing yourselves to be racists. I was raised a Republican but I can no longer be associated with the Republican party.

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